33 Riga Jews Protest Arrest of Ruth Aleksandrovich’s Fiance

Thirty-three Riga Jews protested to Soviet Prosecutor General Roman A. Rudenko yesterday over the “unhuman” arrest Sunday of Isaiah Averbuch, the 27-year-old fiance of arrested nurse Ruth Aleksandrovich, authoritative Jewish informants here reported today. Averbuch was sentenced yesterday to 15 days in jail for disobeying police orders to desist from agitating for Miss Aleksandrovich’s release. In their cable to Rudenko, the 33 Jews stated that “the goal of the arrest is plain”–to prevent Averbuch’s appearance at his fiancee’s May 24 trial and to make the trial “more secret than it is.” Averbuch, they charged, had been “forced into a car and taken to an undisclosed place.” They called for his “immediate release.” The sources also said that on April 30, a petition was sent to the mayor of Riga by 67 Jews who requested a meeting to protest the new series of trials of Soviet Jews. The mayor, identified as Kadikis, and police authorities told the Jews that such a meeting at this time–while a trial is in progress–would be an anti-Soviet act, as it would put the court under undue pressure. The Jews contended that such a meeting was guaranteed by Soviet law, and threatened to convene without him. The mayor, according to the sources, warned the group that if they did they would receive penalties similar to Averbuch’s.